With select blue chips holding their gains on sustained buying interest, key Indian stock indices Sensex and the Nifty50 remain in positive territory this afternoon.
The mood is a bit cautious amid geopolitical concerns following North Korea's missile tests and somewhat disappointing fourth quarter results from India Inc.
The market is up, due largely to fairly buoyant industrial output and inflation data.
The Sensex is up 105.05 points or 0.35% at 30,293.20, nearly 65 points off the day's high of 30,357.98. The Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange, which advanced to 9448.10, is now up 32 points or 0.35% at 9432.90.
Metal stocks are in demand thanks to higher copper prices in global commodity markets. Hindalco is gaining 4%, Tata Steel is up 4.3%. Welcorp tops the list of gainers in the metal space, rising 6.5%. Jindal Steel & Power, SAIL, Vedanta, JSW Steel and Hindustan Zinc are up 1% - 2%.
Dr Reddy's Laboratorie is rising 3.3% after the company reported a 175% jump in net profit in the fourth quarter ended March 2017, over the year-ago quarter.
Kotak Mahindra Bank is up nearly 2.5%. Grasim Industries, Lupin, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Indian Oil Corporation, Bosch, ONGC, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, State Bank of India and Indiabulls Housing Finance are up 1% - 2%.
Adani Ports is declining 1.6%. Infosys, Aurobindo Pharma, Eicher Motors and Yes Bank are down 1% - 1.3%. Bharti Infratel, Hero Motocorp, Wipro, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Tata Motors DVR, Axis Bank and BPCL are also weak.
Piramal Enterprises is up nearly 11% on strong volumes. The Piramal Enterprises counter on the National Stock Exchange has clocked almost 1.15 million shares so far in the session. The stock is up today thanks to a 61% jump in net profit in the quarter ended March 2017, over the year-ago quarter.
